Ben Hamper: The Epitome of Alienation and Failed Subversion of the System In his 1991 memoir, Rivethead, Ben Hamper encounters challenges with the uniformity and monotony of his occupation at General Motors. Hamper narrates his biography from his youth in the mid-1960s to adulthood in the early 1990s, expressing his unchanging state of isolation, which is ultimately the result of failed attempts to dissent the mechanical system. Hamper consequentially becomes pulled into the very system he previously vowed to subvert and misinterprets his alienation from the world beyond General Motors as belongingness. Hamper’s failure to dissent the overarching system illustrates twentieth century notions of paradigms and paradigm shifts, in that those who …show more content…
This may be due to his lineage, which is composed of generations and generations of factory workers, so it is evident that the long line of assembly workers has created a paradigm that is difficult to shift. It is even expected for Hamper to follow the same path and fulfill his familial pattern. Though the fact that the assembly line is etched so deeply in Hamper’s roots is a primary reason for Hamper’s desire to diverge from his prearranged path, it is also the fact that the shoprat lifestyle is a symbol of “obedience to the Corporation, ” or submission to the higher authorities (8). The compliance of the people in the assembly line towards the executives of the vehicle manufacturing company represent the compliance of the general public to the paradigms surrounding them. Hamper, in contrast to his predecessors, seeks a career path filled with thrill and adventure, one that greatly juxtaposes the repetition and dullness that the assembly line offers. Though Hamper does not follow his intended path and is led to the front steps of the GM plant, he does not yet admit defeat to the uniform mechanical system, since he continues to have the same negative sentiments and awareness of the workers’ submission to the …show more content…
In the beginning of his memoir, Hamper expresses deep animosity towards shoprats and the assembly line. Though Hamper believes that through rebellion, he subverts or shifts the paradigm that his lineage set up, he sequentially epitomizes the paradigm itself. Hamper’s expressions towards the GM Plant shifts from disdain to praise. After an extensive duration of working in the mechanical system that he trapped himself into, he becomes the ultimate upholder of the system. When Hamper looks back on the work he has done, he equates the GM plant as his home: “I look over at my old job. Some new guy’s leaning there at my bench. My faithful rivet gun dangles at his hip. It infuriates me… As far as I’m concerned, that damn rivet gun is private property… It’s sad and confusing. I almost feel like I belong here. Almost” (233). The connotations that surround the concepts of the GM plant indeed shift from distinctively negative to positive. In summation, Hamper submits his body, then his mind accordingly, to both the system and the paradigm. He ends up falling in love with his occupation, as dictated by his predetermined path. Hamper therefore exemplifies the conformation of civilians to the overarching governing body. Although he fails to subvert the paradigm of working at General Motors, he achieves a shift in the paradigm that governs the way he views the system, in that his outlook on his
Ivan Glasenberg, the CEO of Glencore, once said “I stopped focusing on people being different, and started treating everyone the same way.” An authority figure refuses to acknowledge the differences in people, and treats different individuals the same way. Authoritarian figures have shut down people, mostly kids, who are different for years. Striving to reach a conformity in society, they refuse to recognize the uniqueness of every individual. Similarly, in the short story “Antaeus”, the main character, T.J., is evidently different from the rest of urban society, much to authority’s disliking. In Borden Deal’s short story “Antaeus”, the author uses the main character ,T.J., to demonstrate that when man is different from the rest of society,
By 1927, Ford was a very successful industrialist, who had made a fortune out of manufacturing cars and displayed a new model of industrial production. He paid his workers much higher than average wages and offered various other incentives to encourage them to live the lives he thought they should. However, he was not a totally honest employer. He was violently anti-union and employed thugs to intimidate anyone who tried to organize and represent his workforce. Ford's generosity as a boss was dependent on letting the company make decisions for the workers, not just in the factories but in the way employees lived their lives, spies were actively out and about observing workers' off duty lives. Ford thought he could create a vast rubber plantation in Brazil, thus ensuring a reliable supply of latex for his new Model A as well as for his Ford trucks and tractors. In the process, he intended to show the world that his system of production would also elevate the lives of his workers.
Detroit’s production is unique when compared to other Wriston plants. Runs are typically low volume, involve higher set up time than run time and vary significantly due to the sheer volume of different product lines, families and models. Traditionally Capital investment has lagged in Detroit and the equipment is out dated and inefficient resulting in higher maintenance costs. Built in an ad-hoc manner, the layout of the Detroit plant is piecemeal; production typically required complex flows. Thus, the environment has contributed to poorly motivated workforce. Bad labor habits are rampant including high absenteeism on weekdays and high turnover.
In his book, Rockdale, Anthony F.C. Wallace explores the relationship between the products of technology and social organization. Wallace focuses his study on the fairly small village of Rockdale, an environment that is intended to reflect a significant part of the American industrial experience of the nineteenth century.
Henry Ford’s assembly line was created with teamwork in mind. Numerous workers come together to complete a task, in this case is the creation of a car. When M. Loisel brings home an invitation to a fancy ball, he believes that his wife who has wealthy aspirations will be overcome with joy, but her excitement is overshadowed by stress. Mme.’s attendance at the ball creates a series of conflicts only able to be overcome by teamwork and persistence. The Necklace exhibits that mutual effort enables people to overcome seemingly continual conflict created by the lacking of a suitable outfit, a lost necklace, and debt through collaboration.
He is the shown as the mean and hateful owner, who could care less if his workers are well because he could always get more people. He knew this because during the Industrial Revolution there were more people than there were jobs, so people had to settle for worse conditions because that was all there was. When two men some into his shop wan... ...
A scene that illustrates this success uses close up shots of factory workers setting up cigarette boxes and telephone connectors at work (Vertov, 35’56”-37’02”). The use of close up, eye level shots make the viewer consider the workers as individuals putting their effort into work, rather than just a mass of people working in a factory, showing the importance of the individual to the whole production. The shot of telephone connectors makes it evident how the work people do as individuals can help connect to the society as a whole, and the emphasis on technology in this shot makes it clear that it is technology that leads to this connection. The tempo of the shots rhythmically get faster as Vertov makes it clear that this style of production afforded by technology allows for an increase in achievement, allowing the individuals, and as a result, the whole society to push past a level of stagnation. By examining this shot, it becomes clear that Vertov wishes to show that this ability technology has given has not just been an ideal, but one that has tangible
Ford had many struggles and challenges come his way before he became the maker of an efficient, non costly car that shaped our world into a technological nation. One challenge he faced was the inability to sell cars when The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers did not allow him to sell cars, (“Henry Ford”). This was a huge obstacle for him because when he created the Ford Model T he needed an audience to buy his product or he was going to be bankrupt. Luckily, since Ford was persistent and always fought for what he wanted he went to court against them and won his case. Moreover, Ford was sued by his own stockholders for putting their money into his company and he lost the case. When he lost the case he didn’t just give up, he worked harder to earn back the money he lost and eventually he bought them out and was able to continue building his stocks up, (“Father of the Modern Assembly Line”). Due to his perseverance and persistenceness he was able to continue with his company and thrive instead of seeing it crumble into nothing. His attitude towards his work is how he was able to create a multi-million dollar company and not let his obstacles bring him down, but let them shape him into a better, industrious
The Industrial Era enabled wealth, prosperity, and advancement in American society. But behind the wealth of a few, the new skyscrapers lining big cities, and the influx of new people, the Industrial Era possessed many dark underbellies, such as labor. Factory owners and industry giants treated their employees poorly, and subjected them to long hours, crowded workspace, and dangerous conditions. This is best exemplified in the New York City’s Triangle factory fire. Often times the middle class reformers, the Progressives, are remembered for their work to ameliorate the working class. These supporters worked hard to cause change, but often the efforts of the factory workers themselves are forgotten. Political and economic change occurred because the poor gave the wealthy and educated people a cause and purpose to fight for. Without the original efforts of the rebellious
...other manufacturers to copy his work and put all the safety and performance parts on their vehicles also. Henry’s labor for the worker has turned over to forty to sixty percent in his company, therefor in return the company’s workers has gotten a bigger turn out because of more pay.
Henry Ford, the man who revolutionized the car industry forever, founded his company under the beliefs that a car wasn’t a high-speed toy for the rich but instead a sturdy vehicle for everyday family needs, like driving to work, getting groceries or driving to church. However, Henry ford did much more than just this feat. He also tried to make peace in WWI before America had joined the war. In addition, Ford made the radical new five dollars a day payment. However, Ford also had his lows. At an early age, his mother died. His first two companies had also been failures. Against many of his closest friends protests, he published an anti-semitic (Jewish) newspaper. Ford had a very interesting and unique life and he changed the automotive industry forever.
Taking place in the jungle of meat packing factories during the early 1900s in Chicago, a journalist by the name of Upton Sinclair dissects the savage inner workings of America’s working class factory lifestyle. Sinclair portrayed the grim circumstance that workers faced and the exploited lives of factory workers in Chicago. He became what was then called a mudrucker; a journalist who goes undercover to see first hand the conditions they were investigating. Being in poor fortune, Sinclair was able to blend into the surrounds of the factory life with his poor grimy clothing. The undercover journalist would walk into the factory with the rest of the men, examine its conditions, and record them when he returned home. It is the worker’s conditions
We then cut to an odd disjointed scene that cuts between Walker marching down a corridor, Lynne at the hairdressers, in bed and Walker driving to her apartment. Over all these intercutting scenes we can hear the loud sounds of his footsteps as he walks down the corridor, which increases the tension of the scene. The footsteps get louder and louder and build into almost a crescendo before he barges into Lynne’s apartment and then fires several rounds of his gun into the bed.
...achly failed and how Henry Ford and Fordism succeeded. By looking into the way Eckert and Mauchly failed to correctly finance and control their product one can see how it is vital to plan and execute properly after creating an invention. In comparison to Henry Ford’s deliberate placement of interchangeable parts, and workers allowed him to accelerate. Next, with the UNIVAC we can see that neglect of recognizing whom to pitch a product too, can lead to downfall. IBM shows proper execution of financial backing and even proper product placement. Finally, Henry Ford was able to speed up his workers with his conveyor belt and deskilling, while allowing more profit for his company. To conclude, the path to success is littered with failure, especially post-creation of a technology, and to come out a revolutionary requires complete attention and complete uniformity.
From a scholarly point of view, the film accurately depicts the lifestyle of a factory worker in the timeframe. Workers would stand on an assembly line and repeat the same action day in and day out. The film also depicts the transition of the human dependency of machines very well. The workers would work at the pace of the machines. The film also had metaphors of humans being controlled by machines when the main actor was sucked into the pulley system of a machine. The film also has a scene where there is a machine that automatically feeds humans.